William McCool was an American NASA astronaut and United States Navy officer who served as pilot on the Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107 in January 2003, his only spaceflight. He was among the seven crew members killed when Columbia broke apart during reentry over Texas on February 1, 2003, a disaster later traced to foam debris that struck and damaged the orbiters wing during launch, allowing superheated gas to breach the wing structure during reentry.
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